Salisbury splits season-opener dual meet with Rowan
SALISBURY, Md. - The 2008-09 Salisbury University swim season is officially underway as the Sea Gulls hosted Rowan University on Tuesday evening in the home opener for the maroon and gold. Salisbury split the non-conference dual meet against the Profs in the Maggs Center pool as the women's team edged out a 134-128 victory while the men's team lost 160-101.
Salisbury's women's team (1-0) won seven of the 14 events as three Sea Gulls won two events apiece. Sophomore Katy Turner won the 200 IM with a time of 2:33.71 and was also first in the 200-meter butterfly (2:34.23). Two freshmen had great debuts for the maroon and gold as Katie Fitzenreiter won the 400-meter freestyle (4:51.38) and 800-meter freestyle (9:59.57) while Robin Stone was first in the 100-meter backstroke (1:12.06) and 200-meter backstroke (2:35.35). Senior Raienne South won the 200-meter freestyle (2:17.82). Salisbury scored 14 points as a team in the 200-meter butterfly and the 400-meter free. Rowan swept the two relay events. The SU team of junior Angie Hammond, South, freshman Jenna Petrella and Turner finished second in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:56.78 while Rowan's team won with a time of 1:55.95. The Sea Gulls performance in the 400 free and the 200 IM helped to clinch the win down the stretch.
On the men's side, the Sea Gulls (0-1) won four of the 14 events. Junior Mike Ferrari won the 100-meter backstroke (1:12.70) and 200-meter breaststroke (2:40.67). Ferrari also finished second in the 200 IM (2:25.74). Senior Benjamin Overholt finished first in the 200-meter freestyle (2:05.68) and was a member of the first-place 200 freestyle relay team (1:44.30). The other three members of the relay team include fellow seniors Ian Branigan and Brad Buckley along with sophomore Chris Smith. The Sea Gulls other relay team finished second in the 200 IM (1:57.52) just behind Rowan (1:56.78). Overholt and Buckley were joined on that relay team by sophomore Tim Metcalf and freshman Sean Glover.
The Sea Gulls will next dive into their Capital Athletic Conference schedule on Saturday, November 1. SU will travel to Washington, D.C., to face Gallaudet University and University of Mary Washington. The Eagles from Mary Washington are the defending conference champions. The conference tri-meet is being hosted by the Gallaudet Bison.
